1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a personal hygiene apparatus and more particularly to an assembly that may be attached to or made a part of a conventional bathroom water closet for cleansing the posterior or anal and genital or vaginal areas of users of the water closet.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Bidets have for many years been in use throughout the world, but primarily in Europe, for cleansing and irrigating a person's anal and/or genital areas by flushing them with a spray of water. Bidets are typically unitary structures having a single purpose and are normally provided in bathrooms along with conventional toilets.
The principal reason for bidets not becoming more commonplace in homes is the expense associated with the installation of a separate bidet in a bathroom. The bidet is generally very expensive and often there is inadequate space in a bathroom for installation of a separate bidet.
The prior art includes a limited number of devices for attachment to a conventional toilet bowl or toilet seat for cleaning and irrigating the anal and/or genital areas of a user. Examples of such prior art bidet attachments are shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,142,711 to Parikh, U.S. Pat. No. 5,101,520 to Lockhart, U.S. Pat. No. 5,090,067 to Cogdill, U.S. Pat. No. 3,045,248 to Gentry, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,195,148 to Merkel, Jr.; each of which discloses an attachment or assembly for mounting either on the upper surface of a toilet bowl or the under surface of a toilet seat for cleansing and irrigating the anal and/or genital areas.
Most of the prior art devices have been extremely complex, unsightly, difficult to install and have failed to meet appropriate sanitary standards, thus they have not been readily accepted. Furthermore, since most of the prior art devices take the water directly from the pressure refill pipe which usually dispense cold water. To provide warm or heated water, U.S. Pat. No. 5,090,067 to Cogdill provides a separate tank with an immersion heater located therein.